On (or off?) this subject does anyone have any idea why James uses SUNAGWGH
in 2:2 but EKKLHSIA in 5:14.
I can't believe that the beginning of the letter is written to two different
groups, so is it possible that...
(a) at this point in church history the semantic field of EKKLHSIA did not
extend to include the individual congregation, and SUNAGWGH had not yet
become a dirty word (cf Rev2:9 etc)? That would require an early date,
perhaps even earlier than the Council of Jerusalem???
(b) Or is it just James showing conservative / Judaistic leanings?
How can you tell? Is there any hard linguistic evidence that can distinguish
between the above possibilities?
Regards
Steven